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Football: Inter Milan play down reports of sale to Indonesian

Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti has played down reports he is about to sell a majority stake in the club to Indonesian businessman Erick Thohir.

Reports last week suggested Moratti was pondering selling a majority stake in the club to Thohir, a sale that would allow new coach Walter Mazzarri to buy players and give the club an option on a new stadium.

After meeting reporters on Monday morning, however, Moratti played down the reports, suggesting talks were now focused elsewhere.

“No, no, we’re discussing something entirely different,” said Moratti, who reportedly wants the guarantee of a new stadium written into any future sale or partial sale of the club.

“What matters is if this thing (that is being discussed) offers a big advantage to Inter, if there’s no advantage for Inter, we’ll leave it,” he added.

Reports at the weekend claimed Thohir had given Inter a one-week deadline to decide how much they were willing to relinquish, or the offer would be removed.

The reports claim Thohir has tabled an offer of 260-300 million euros ($340-390 million) — as well as a further 100m euros to invest immediately in players — to acquire a commanding stake in the club.

Asked if the coming days would be key, Moratti said: “No, I don’t think they’ll be key. I think there’s too many rumours around. I read these, and usually 90 percent of what’s reported is untrue.”

When asked if the construction of a new stadium would be a deal-breaker in the talks, he said: “It’s important.”